A Phantom By Any Other Name
by Tattooed Alchemist
Summary: Danny, upon escaping the Guys in White, reflects back on the experiments and tortures they did to him, all the while receiving aid from the world's most renowned ghost hunters, Jack and Maddie Fenton, and trying to tell them of his identity. Will they embrace him or will they throw him back to the cruel, gloved hands of the Guys in White?
1. Beginning

He watched with feigned passiveness as the glittering metal of the long needle disappeared beneath his starch white pale arm, a small bubble of neon green ectoplasm bursting up, only to be quickly wiped away by the small piece of gauze. He bit his lip as the sharp biting pain from the needle took his arm. In a quick and chaotic moment of panic he tried to decide if he should turn his head or continue to watch, but the syringe had already been pulled out by the time he had decided, leaving behind a trail of oozing ectoplasm and the echo of the sharp pain.

Relieved that it was over, he lulled his head back and forth across the cold metal of the surgical table. He closed his eyes and mustered all the strength he could to ask, "So how long?"

"For what?" the woman snorted, bitterness and anger seething from every word he spoke. "For the results or for them to realize you escaped?"

Danny sighed, lacking the energy to respond. The sound of her voice, no matter how angry, was all that he needed to hear. How he had dreamt to hear such a sweet sound again, but for so long he had thought that such a treasure would be nothing more than a wishful fantasy, something dreamed of but would never be fulfilled. He wished she was speak to him more, but he knew she was far too focused at the moment to think about conversing with a ghost she had hated and hunted for so long. He was still amazed over the fact that she had even agreed to help him.

The sound of a large person coming down the stairs echoed on the metal sheet coated walls. He held his breath for a moment but relaxed when he heard the voice.

"The house is secure, Mads," he announced loudly. "No one's getting in here while Jack Fenton's around. Not even the Guys in White."

He flinched at those words. _Guys in White._ He couldn't bear to think of them, let alone hear someone speak his name. He let out a deep moan and turned his head.

In a much quieter voice, one just barely above a whisper, he could hear Jack ask, "Is he going to be alright?"

"I don't know," he heard her respond quickly in just as equally of a hushed tone. "The analysis won't be done for another hour."

An hour. The words echoed inside his head. That's all the time he had left before everything was revealed. Before they had realized all the lies he had told, all the secrets he had kept, but, most importantly, before they realized who and what he really was. His brow frowned and his clenched his fists. Should he go ahead and tell them? They were going to find out anyways. Would they accept him? Would they throw him back to the Guys in White? Or would they keep them for themselves to dissect?

"Phantom?" he heard his mother ask, a trace of worry in her voice.

He took a deep breath and unclenched his fists, trying to appear relaxed no matter how stressed and in pain he was. He opened his eyes and looked at her questioningly, lacking the energy to actually ask what she wanted.

"Are you alright?" she asked hesitantly.

Of course he wasn't alright, he mused to himself bitterly. He had just escaped from the clutches of the Guys in White who had been torturing him and experimenting on him for who knows how long. But he didn't say any of that, he didn't want to worry or anger her further, if that was possible. So instead he just settled on the far too often of overused phrase, "I'm fine."

She looked at him with disbelief in her eyes but instead of pushing further she just shrugged and turned back to the computers.

"Actually," he pushed himself to say, a new surge of cold panic and adrenaline rushing through him. She stopped and turned to look him in the eye. He didn't want to be here. He didn't want to be faced to do this. After all the times and scenarios he had gone over in his head about this conversation, this certainly wasn't one of them. He quickly eyed the analysis machine, which seemed to be running particularly smoothly and swift today, today of all days, and then swallowed. "There's something I need to tell you."


	2. Distraction

Reflection:

"I think Lancer is trying to kill us," Danny complained to his friends as they all made their way down the hall. Mr. Lancer had just decided that during finals week, where everybody is busy and getting ready for Christmas vacation, that throwing in a surprise, last minute book report would be an excellent idea. "Doesn't he realize how busy we are?" he continued on. "I mean now on top of studying and catching ghosts I have to worry about this too!"

"Hey man," Tucker began, giving him a gentle punch in the arm, "you can just copy off mine. I got the movie version of the book and was planning on just watching that to write that stupid report anyways."

Danny looked out of the corner of his eye at Sam, just waiting for her to protest, saying that Danny needed to do the work himself and that watching the movie version wouldn't give them the full experience and understanding of the story the book would. Instead, however, Sam just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well why don't we all just watch it at my house?"

"Yay!" Tucker exclaimed loudly as he punched the air. "I'll bring the hot dogs if you supply the popcorn. Tell your Grannie to make some her chocolate chip cookies! Oh man, this will be epic."

"Really, Sam?" Danny questioned, a little suspicious of such an uncharacteristic move.

"Yeah," Sam waved. "I know you're busy. Just consider it part of your Christmas present."

Danny smiled. "Thanks, Sam."

When they all got to the end of the hall they said some goodbyes and 'see you at lunch's and then went their own ways. There was one more class before lunch and they each all had it on opposite sides of the building.

After stopping by his locker Danny lingered in front of the door of his next class, momentarily amusing himself with the thought of playing hokey. Deciding Jazz would kick if ass if he did skipped another class he took a deep breath and turned to enter. He had been just about to step in when a sudden rush of coldness consumed him. As he exhaled his cold, now icy breath could be seen in the school's warm air.

Danny clenched his fists and let out a frustrated sigh. "What now?" he moaned.

Abandoning his backpack, Danny rushed into the men's restroom. After locking the door and bending down to see if he could see any legs under the stall, he stood erect and readied himself.

"Going Ghost!"

Energy rushed through him. So much energy that his body could not contain it all, resulting in the sudden burst of a white beam that started at his midsection and soon enveloped his whole body. It didn't matter how many times he had done it, the transformation from human to ghost always gave him a sudden new strength and energy. As ironic as it was, he never felt more alive than when transforming into a ghost.

After going intangible Danny phased through the door. He rushed through the halls, trying to find the ghost that had set off his Ghost Sense, but to no avail. After checking the most frequented of areas, Danny decided to give the basement a sweep before giving up. If he was lucky, some nobody ghost who had just passing through had set it off. If that was the case perhaps he could still make it in time to class before he was marketed as an official 'no show'.

Danny went around another corner and the same sudden coldness consumed him once more. An icy blue puff of cold air escaped his lips as he hissed a quiet curse.

A green ghost appeared before him. It was in the form of an octopus with long jagged tentacles and glowing red eyes. Danny recognized it immediately. It was one of the harmless, more pathetic of ghosts that somehow always managed to find its way back to the human world no matter how many times he threw it back into the Ghost Zone.

"Oh," Danny said, nearly laughing to himself in the relief over the fact that he wouldn't have to engage in any fighting, "it's just you."

Distracted by the sudden appearance of Danny, the creature didn't even move or give notice to the fact that Danny had whipped out the Thermos. Upon pushing the button on the side a sudden beam of light escape from the small metal container. The beam enveloped the nearly powerless ghost and drug screaming it into the tight confines of the cold metal.

With a smile of satisfaction Danny powered off the Thermos and slid it back onto the loop in his belt. He had been just about to fly back up to his locker when a new sound echoed through the damp cement halls that dashed all hopes of doing so immediately.

"He took the bait! Fire!"


	3. Arrest

Upon hearing of her younger brother's powers Jazz had tried to help out any way she could. At first, all she succeeded in was getting in the way. But finally, after finding the place where she fitted in best at Team Phantom, she started making drills for her superhero brother. Initially he had just thought these endless drills obnoxious and pointless and had only done them so as to not upset her. There was one particular drill that had really annoyed Danny. Every time she yelled "Fire!" or made the sound of a gun clicking he was to go intangible or otherwise she would soak him in with her water gun.

'So what?' he had said to her after what felt like the zillionth time being pelted with a torrent of water. 'Do you want me to go intangible and expose myself every time there's a fire drill?'

'You'll thank me one day,' she said right before soaking him again—this time just for the hell of it.

It was because of this drill that when Danny had heard "He took the bait! Fire!" he immediately went intangible, making whatever it was they were firing at him simply pass through him.

"Mental note to thank Jazz," he mused to himself briefly as he turned around.

There, blocking the end of the hallway, were six bulky men all wielding large, metallic guns and all dressed in completely white suits. They each were also wearing thick sunglasses—regardless of the fact that they were indoors, in a dimly lit basement no less—and each black spiraling wire spiraling out of their ear, which Danny already knew it to be a communication device. The Guys in White.

"Oh great," Danny began sarcastically as he went back to his tangible form. "What do you guys want? Come to give me tips on how to properly press my suits?"

"Danny Phantom," the one Danny knew to be K—or could it have been O?—announced loudly, "you are under arrest for repeated acts of vandalism, numerous counts of destruction of public and private property, one charge of kidnapping, and countless acts of terror."

"Really?" Danny scoffed. "Is that all you got? I'm sure you could have thought up some more." He knew the best way to avoid them was to just go intangible, fly back up to the upper levels of the building, transform back to Danny Fenton, and walk into class as if it was just any other day he was late, but he wanted to amuse them—or rather, amuse himself. After all, who had ever heard as something as ridiculous as arresting a ghost?

"So will you come willingly?" K asked as he held up a pair of handcuffs. The thickness and anti-ghost materials around the edge told Danny that they were handcuffs specially designed to restrains ghosts.

"Wait, you were serious?" Danny mused. "Well, good luck with that."

"As you wish," K said as he held up his gun and aimed.

Danny took to the air right as K pulled the trigger, resulting in the blinding electric blast that had erupted forth from the oddly large gun hitting the wall behind him. He looked back to see that the blast had greatly weakened the wall, several large chunks of the cement crumbling down, as well as some cardboard boxes in the corner catching fire.

Danny couldn't help but to find himself surprised after seeing such a blast. That amount of electricity would have knocked him out cold had it hit him. This time they were meaning business.

Tearing his eyes away from the scene behind him, as fast as he could he darted above the Guys in Whites' heads, just barely escaping their grasps, and rushed out towards the first level. He had to lure them out of the school building and away from the other students. He couldn't allow anyone to get harmed because of people who were after him.

He had just turned the corner to lead them up the stairs when he heard another weapon let out a shrill high-pitched sound of being charged up and the deafening blast of it being shot off.

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	4. The Chase

By the time he had reached the top of the stairs the Guys in White were shooting their electric powered guns relentlessly. The bright, electric blue charges blasted past him and set the walls of the main floor ablaze.

"They'll burn the whole place down if I don't get them out of here," Danny muttered to himself as he flew in the direction of the main entrance.

Blast after blast was shot past him. He zig-zagged from side to side, avoiding their massive electric charge, but also causing the Guys in White to miss, resulting in more and more fires being set.

"Will you guys calm down?" Danny called back, turning his head to see all the damage they were causing. Both sides of the entire hallway were now being engulfed by yellow and orange flames.

He rounded a corner, lingering for a moment for them to catch up. He didn't want to lose them completely. He just wanted to stay far enough ahead so as to avoid their electrically charged guns but at the same time stay close enough for them to follow him. The entrance wasn't too far away, but, given their shooting skills and all the fires they were setting, he was worried about the school and students. He knew there was a fire alarm two hallways over and decided to set it off as he flew by.

A couple seconds later and the sound of the Guys in Whites' footsteps was becoming louder and louder. Deciding that they were now close enough Danny once again took off down the hall.

"Stop resisting arrest," he heard K yell from behind him, "and we won't have to take more drastic measures."

"Yeah," Danny said, voice loud and drenched in sarcasm, "because setting a school on fire and shooting electric guns totally isn't drastic _at all!_"

Danny heard K order something to another agent, but given all the commotion he was unable to make out what it was. He continued to zig-zag across the hall, often looking back to see all the damage that the Guys in White were reaping on the school. He wondered why the sprinklers hadn't already gone off, but he just assumed that they either hadn't picked up any detection of the smoke or they just weren't working at all. It was a wonder too that none of the teachers or students had noticed. Or perhaps they already had and were in the pursuit of a fire alarm just as he was. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he made it to the hallway with the fire alarm.

"Perhaps they should invest in more of these," Danny mused to himself darkly as he sped up towards the red and white plastic lever. He stopped only for a moment to pull down the small lever and the halls were instantly filled with the blaring, deafening sound of the alarm and the blinding flashes of the strobe-like lights.

He looked up to see that all six of the men had their guns aimed directly at him. The sound of a small stampede behind him made him turn his head. Six more Guys in White had suddenly appeared, all bearing the same electrically powered guns and all aimed on him. He jerked his head back and forth between the two armed groups, mind racing as to what to do next. Of course, he could just go intangible and fly out of there, but then the Guys in White would probably just stay in the school and look for him, reaping even more havoc and destruction. He had to lead them out of the school and away from the other students.

"I don't know about you guys," Danny said as he tugging at the neck of his jumpsuit, "but I think it's getting pretty hot in here. How about we take it outside?"

"Danny Phantom you are under arrest," O announced, who was obviously the leader of the second group.

"Yeah, yeah," Danny waved. "Save your breath. I've heard it before."

"So do you come willingly?" O asked. Did these guys have a script or something?

Danny turned to answer O and just as he did he heard a sickening 'click'. He didn't have time to go intangible, nor did he have time to turn his head. Faster than the time it took to blink a sharp jolted entered through his back. The jolt intensified quickly to a blinding pain. His eyes were forced shut and it felt as through every bones in his body was arching in protest of the electric pain, as if every fiber in his body was trying to get away from it and yet frozen in place from it all at the same time. He tried to fight against it, but the current was just too much. All too soon the black spots of unconsciousness consumed him and he fell to the ground cold.


	5. Struggle

Present:

"There's something I need to tell you."

The words had barely escaped his mouth before his mother turned on her heels to face him fully. Her eyes were wide and pleading when she asked, "Is it about Danny?"

Danny froze, suddenly unable respond. He felt as though he was being stabbed in the heart as he looked up at her. Her face, once held tight in strict and fierce determination had now crumbled into that of deep sorrow and pain. Tears were forming in the corners of her eyes as if the thought of her son was too painful to even think about, let alone speak his name. He hated seeing his mother in pain. Could he relieve it by telling her everything? That he, her son, was indeed alive and lying before her? Or would the truth of what he was cause her even more pain?

"There—there was a fire," she stammered on. "It burnt nearly half the school down by the time the fire department was able to get there." Her voice was cracking now. A tear escaped her eyes but she quickly wiped it away with the back of her gloved hand. "There were some injuries, but…we haven't been able to find our son since then."

Jack wrapped an arm around his wife supportively and then took over. "It happened around the same time we noticed you weren't showing your face around here anymore. We hoped that he had run off to find you—he always did look up to you, though I don't know why."

Danny turned his head, unable to look at their pain-ridden faces any longer. Perhaps they would be better off if he told them their son was dead. Then the memory and image of their son could be preserved as the human boy they had raised and loved. Maybe then they could fully grieve and then move on with their lives.

But could he really do that? Tell them their son was dead when he was still alive? If he did he could never return to them in his human form. He would never again be able to see them again, talk to them as he once did, laugh with them, embrace them, tell them that he loved them. His death would be just as much of a loss to him as it was to them. Sure, he could be around them in his ghostly form, of course, but that wouldn't be the same. He wouldn't be to them the son that he was. He would just be the pest that they wanted to hunt and study or even just a bitter reminder of the son they had lost. No, he couldn't do that. His family meant far too much to him to stay away from them forever or to cause them such pain.

"I—" he breathed as he looked back up at them. Their tear-filled eyes were pleading and desperate. So much pain in them. Pain because of him. He swallowed hard.

Why couldn't they have just _known_? Why couldn't they have spotted some of the signs and piece it together themselves? Both of them disappearing at the same time? The uncanniness of them never being seen at the same time? All the obvious lies and pathetic excuses? How hard was it to piece together that Danny Phantom and Danny Fenton were the same person?! Why couldn't he have just told them about it after it had first happened? Why did he have to wait, lie, and hide the truth from them for all this time before finally telling the truth?

Danny let out a frustrated groan, though from the look on his parent's faces he assumed that they thought he was moaning from pain.

"I guess we can talk about this later," Jack decided, disappointment radiating from his every word.

"No," Maddie barked. She shrugged Jack's arm off and rushed towards the table Danny was lying on. She gripped the edge and leaned close towards Danny as she asked, voice on the verge of begging, "Please! If you know anything about our son please tell us!"

Danny jerked back reflexively, images and flashes of the Guys in White being brought back instantly to him in response to her sudden closeness. His heart felt like it was trying to pound its way out of his chest. He closed his eyes briefly, trying to calm his now quickened breathing and panicking mind. When he opened his eyes he saw that she was still right there. Panicked and desperate and yet still patiently awaiting his answer.

"I," he forced out, voice now shaking slightly, "I know where he is."


	6. Captured

Reflection:

Ever since he had started hunting ghosts Danny had gotten used to waking up after having been knocked out. With such enemies like Sulker, Walker, Dark Pariah, Nocture, and not to mention Vlad Plasmuis one got accustomed to being knocked around and, occasionally, knocked out. It was just part of being a superhero that he had long since accepted. This acceptance, however, never did lessen the feelings of being disorientated and helpless upon regaining consciousness. As the stings of awareness slowly began pulling him awake, Danny began desperately trying to assess his situation and remember what and who had caused him to go unconscious.

Beyond the nearly deafening ringing that echoed in his ears and without opening his eyes, Danny could make out some sort of odd beeping noise. The higher frequency of the tone led him to believe that it was being caused by some sort of machinery or perhaps even a computer. He could make out some voices too, but as for what they were saying or who they belonged to he had no idea.

When he tried to move he was instantly met with the realization that he couldn't. He was seated in a chair, a cold one that felt as though it could have been metal. His wrists and ankles were fastened down so tight that it felt as though the restraints were biting into his skin, even through his jumpsuit. He tried to rock the chair but only to realize that it was somehow fastened to the floor.

Panic started to rush through him. Where was he? Who had him? What were they going to do to him? Before he opened his eyes he made himself take several deep breaths and count to ten. He had come to realize that he worked best in emergency situations when he went in with a clear head.

When he opened his eyes they were instantly greeted by a blinding light. He blinked several times, waiting for his eyes to adjust. When they finally did he saw that he was in a room that he had never seen before. Large machines and computers took up the majority of the enormous room. In one corner there were several desks and filling cabinets, giving it an office sort of feel, while the other was made up to look like a make-shift surgical area. There was a long, metal surgical table lit by a large circular light above, like the ones he had seen before in medical dramas on television. Trays full of sharp instruments lay on both sides of the table, looking menacing.

Danny gulped hard and his heart started to race.

With great reluctance, he tore his eyes away from the blood-chilling sight to take a look at the area he was located. In his corner were once again several filling cabinets. A wooden table stood before him, covered with several papers, a manila file, and a cup of coffee that was still steaming. There was a wooden chair across from him, and, given the angle it was positioned, he assumed that it wasn't bolted to the floor.

He looked down to see that he was indeed harnessed down to a metal chair that had been bolted into the floor. The material restraining him he recognized instantly. Anti-ghost material. He couldn't have gone intangible and escaped no matter how hard he tried.

With a sigh he looked over at the small machine next to him. It was no larger than a vacuum cleaner. A flat touch screen monitor was placed at the top—the screen itself currently black from being in sleep mode, leaving Danny unable to read it and guess what its purpose was—with a long cable branching out from the side, connect edto it a long metal prod.

"Great," he muttered to himself darkly, "I always wanted my own R2D2."

He heard the voices again. He looked up to see several people in white suits were conversing on the other side of the room. Some were typing away at the computers, occasionally looking back to talk to the others, but most were formed in a small circle talking quickly. Danny strained his ears to hear, but he couldn't make out anything they were saying. The only word he could make out was his own name, or rather, the version of his ghost half's name that people often shortened it to. Phantom.

Danny recognized the group immediately from their ever-constant attire. White suits, black sunglasses, and black wire coming out of their ears. The Guys in White. The memories of the school and his capture instantly came flooding back to him. A new worry filled him. Had everyone made it out of the school? Were Jazz, Sam, and Tucker okay? Had they been caught up in the fire? He doubted the Guys in White would know such a thing or would even tell him.

The sound of a door opening echoed throughout the walls. Danny guessed it must have been hidden out of view from him by one of the large machines because he had been unable to previously find a door.

Four men and two women, each wearing long white lab coats, walked straight towards the circle of Guys in White. They all talked briefly, a few nods, and then the lab-coated group left just as quickly as they had come.

K looked up at Danny and smiled, obviously happy at the fact that he was now conscious. He turned to speak a few whispered words to the group then strode Danny's way, pride seeping out of every pore. He cleared his throat before sitting down in the chair across from Danny. After another wide smile and then he said mockingly, "I hope you slept well."

"I've had better naps," Danny said as he tried to peer down at what was on the papers. K responded by picking them up and angling them so Danny couldn't see them. "But you guys really need to work on your hospitality. I didn't even get a mint on my pillow."

"We'll be sure to work on that," K said without looking up from the papers.

O then suddenly appeared, as if from nowhere, beside Danny. Perhaps he wasn't as alert as he thought. It was the only explanation he could think of for having not noticed the large, white suit dressed man walk up beside him and begin messing with the vacuum cleaner sized contraption on the floor next to him.

"I'm going to be as straight forward about this as possible," K began, instantly regaining Danny's attention. "I'm going to ask you several questions. If I feel that you are lying, not telling the whole truth, your answers were unsatisfactory, or you just act like a smart ass, Agent O here will give you a little electric shock. Every time we must shock you the intensity level will be increased. By the time the intensity reaches level twenty the power will be too much for your ectoplasmic signature to keep itself together. You will either turn into a pile of goo or die—I'm not sure which. Let's not find out. Do you understand? Have I made myself clear?"

Danny could hear the high-pitched sound of the device being turned on and charging up, but he refused to look at it. After K raised an eyebrow, obviously expecting an answer, Danny smiled. "As clear as my urine."

A soft _click_ was heard and suddenly Danny's body was filled with intense pain. His back arched, eyelids forced themselves closed, hands clasped onto the armrests of the chair. He let out a scream, one that sounded almost inhuman because of how much pain he was in. Suddenly the pain stopped, though his arms and legs continued to twitch.

"That was level one," K said darkly as Danny fought to catch his breath. His mouth stretched out into a sick grin as he said, "And I haven't even asked the first question yet. This should get interesting." He then straightened his papers by hitting their edges on the table loudly. "Now that you've seen that I'm serious, let's begin."

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	7. interrogation

Danny looked down at his twitching hand. He hadn't been shocked for the last few questions but his body still moved as if he had bits of current left in it. He took a deep breath and bit his lip, trying to calm down his rapid breathing and gasps for air, but to no avail. It felt weird, his body moving like that without him giving permission to do so. He half-way wondered if it was a similar experience when he overshadowed someone.

All the questions thus far had been focused on his powers. What were all his powers? Why were they so strong? Had they always been their way? What had he done to develop them? He had started off by answering with snarky remarks—such as contributing the strength of his powers to the fact that his mother had always made him eat his green vegetables—but after five shocks he realized they weren't worth it. He decided it was best to save those shocks for questions he really didn't want to answer.

"Why do you go by 'Danny Phantom'?" K asked, looking up from his papers that were obviously made up of lists of questions.

"Because that's my name," Danny answered plainly. When he saw O taking a step towards him, electric prod in hand, Danny jolted up. "No! Wait! That really is my name."

"Did you carry the name over from your past life?" K asked, eyes now peeking over the edge of his sunglasses, as if a new curiosity had been awakened.

"Yeah," he answered. "But just the 'Danny' part. I assumed the 'Phantom' later."

K wrote something down then took a long sip from his coffee. After setting the mug back down he looked up at Danny. "How did you die?" he asked, the mocking tone in his voice gone, now replaced with one of idle curiosity.

Danny fidgeted in his restraints uncomfortably. He eyed O, prod still in hand, then asked, "Why do you want to know?"

"Curiosity," K shrugged. He then quickly added, "And, it helps us to get a better understanding of you. You are a very powerful ghost, more powerful than the ones we've ever come across. You remembered your name after having crossed over, so what else do you remember?"

Danny eyed his now clenched fist. If he had been any other ghost he would have gone on without remorse about what he remembered from his past life. But Danny was no ordinary ghost. He was a half-ghost. Unlike all the other ghosts he was still living his 'past life'. He still had a family and life and a home, all of which could be gone forever within a matter of seconds if he revealed too much information regarding this subject. He couldn't just not answer them though—due to the fact that he didn't want to be shocked again—but he would have to tread lightly, examine every word before speaking it.

He took a deep breath then answered, "I was in an accident."

"What kind of accident?" K pushed.

"The stupid kind," Danny answered with a dark chuckle. He looked up at K, still laughing his dark laugh then added, "What other kind of accident does a kid my age get himself into?"

"Do you remember it?" K asked.

Danny shook his head. He remembered the accident that changed his life vividly, but he wasn't going to let them onto this fact. "Not really," he lied. He eyed O darkly as he added, "All I know is that it involved electricity. I like to think that I didn't die by trying to get my toast out with a fork, but then again, I do like toast." Pushing for a change of subject he quickly added, "Speaking of which, I'm hungry."

"You're a ghost, Phantom," K sighed. "You don't need to eat."

"And you don't need to wear sunglasses indoors!" Danny said as he whipped his head around to look at K. No sooner had he finished speaking when he heard the soft _click_ of the machine again, immediately followed by the sudden current of electricity traveling through his body. His back arched, his eyes closed, his mouth parted in a terrible scream, and soon it was over.

"You're up to six now," K mused sadistically as he looked over the papers, "and we're not even halfway through."


	8. Truth

Present:

"I know where he is," Danny breathed.

No sooner had the words gotten out of his mouth then did Maddie demand in a voice that resembled a growl, "Where?" Her eyes were wide and her nostrils flared. The way she was looking at him…it was as if she believed he was the cause of his disappearance.

"I—" Danny stammered. His mind raced. Why now? Why after he had appeared on their doorstep bloodied and injured? How was he even supposed to tell them? Should he tell them the whole story? How he had gotten his powers in the first place? Or should he just transform and let them piece together the puzzle themselves?

"I—" he continued to stammer. His heart quickened, his palms were noticeably moist while being clenched in tight fists. He let out a frustrated groan then turned his head away from his mother. A part of him just wanted to bang his head against the table, but he lacked the energy. If only Jazz was there. She could help him. He wouldn't be able to do it without her. Why did she have to be at school? "I can't!" he grunted through clenched teeth.

"Where's my son?" Maddie roared, giving the table he was on a firm shake. Danny reared back in response, nearly falling off the table.

"Maddie," Jack said as he reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. She began to cry instantly at the touch. She then fell into his large body, burying her face in his chest as she wept.

"I want Danny," she said, her voice and tears muffled by the orange jumpsuit. "Where's my Danny?"

Danny couldn't take it anymore. The sight of his mother breaking down in front of him was too much. Her hated seeing her hurt, seeing her cry. He would have rather been back strapped down and at the mercy of the Guys in White as opposed to seeing her fall apart as she was. "Please stop," he moaned, but neither could hear him over her cries. He couldn't stand by and watch this. He had to calm her, give her comfort she needed. With a loud grunt he pushed himself up and winced.

"Phantom," Jack said as he looked up and held out his hand. "Lay back down," he instructed. "You're in no condition to be up."

Danny ignored this. He sat up and dangled his feet off the side. He knew what he had to do. He just only wished that it wouldn't have had to be this way.

"Phantom, stop," Jack insisted, still holding one arm out as if to stop him, the other wrapped around his wife.

Danny ignored the instruction of his father. After taking a deep breath he closed his eyes, focusing on the power within his own body. The power grew until his body could no longer contain the energy. The energy burst out of his midsection in the form of a blinding white light. That energy, the pure, empowering energy, enveloped him in that ever-familiar yet longed for light. He could feel his body change, from the near weightlessness of a ghost to the gravity-bound body of a human. Warm blood now pulsed through him, powered by the constant thumping of his human heart. How long had it been since he had last felt like what it was to be human?

He looked up briefly at his father, his mouth dropped and eyes wide in disbelief. Danny fought to ignore this. Instead, he hopped down off the table. He winced and let out a yelp as he grasped the table for support. He took a deep breath, trying to ignore the pain that was now radiating up and down his body. He reached out and wrapped his hand around his mother's shoulder.

"It's okay, Mom," his voice cracked from the pain he was experiencing. He could feel her body freeze underneath his hand. "I'm fine now."

"Danny?" she gasped.


	9. Submission

Reflection:

Danny stared at the bright light overhead, hoping that if he stared hard enough into it he would finally wake up from this nightmare. But as hard as he stared and as hard as he willed, this horrible nightmare was his harsh reality, the harsh, searing pain on his chest only reminded him of that.

Pain radiated up and down his body, his appendages still sporadically twitching, moving outside of his own control. The process of moving him from the restraining chair to being tied down to the surgical table had been a difficult and painful one. They had put a collar around him, one made of anti-ghost material that had a metal band around it, capable of sending electric jolts through his body with just a click of the button from a remote control. They had told Danny that he himself was going to lay himself on the table without any sort of trouble, but as a security measure they attached a cable to the collar, making it look as though he was a dog on a leash, holding onto it firm so that he could not try to fly away or escape.

"I think you have me mistaken with someone else," Danny had said when they had first put the collar and leash-type contraption on him. "His name is Cujo. He's about this big. I'm Danny." This had gotten him shocked, again. This time the shock continued on for a long amount of time, as if the person holding the remote control had some sort of warped and sadistic sense of humor. When the electric current finally ended all he could do was writhe on the ground, twitching and spasming to near the point of convulsing.

"Get on the table," one of the Guys in White ordered coldly as Danny laid on the ground.

Danny had wanted to say 'If you think I'm going to get on that thing, you're nuts!' but all that was able to come out in the end was "No!"

His defiance resulted in yet another shock, even longer this time. When they again ordered him up on the table Danny once again refused. This time, instead of shocking him, a particularly large Guy in White strode towards him, slamming his enormous steel-toed boots on the ground with every step he took. When he finally made it to Danny, without even a second's moment of hesitancy, he began kicking him in the stomach hard and repeatedly.

By the time it was over Danny laid on the ground helplessly, still twitching, with the strong taste of ectoplasm in his mouth and dark spots now clouding his vision. Though he knew what getting on the table meant—submitting himself to their will, being examined, experimented on—he couldn't take much more of the shocks and beatings. A new sorrow and terror filled him as he realized that he had no other option. They would have continued on with their cruel beatings until he placed himself on that medical table, even if that meant killing him first.

As he struggled to his knees he looked up at his tormentors and pleaded, _"Please."_

They continued to stare at him unmoving, waiting for him to climb up there himself.

Danny struggled to stand, using the table he would soon be lying himself on for support. When he was finally upright all he could do was stare down at the table. Sick, horrible images flashed before his mind. He saw himself being experimented on, vivisected, taken apart molecule by molecule until there was nothing left other than a smear of red and green, ectoplasm and human blood. His whole body shook and a choked sob escaped from his throat. "Please don't make me do this," he begged weakly, using a single breath.

The Guys in White made no response. Only waited.

Another terrified sob escaped his throat. He would have preferred them to just lay him on top of it. Anything than other than willingly putting himself on it, freely submitting himself to their tortures. If Jazz was here she was probably say they were doing this to break his will. But then again if Jazz was here there was no way she'd ever let the Guys in White lay as much as a hand on him.

After a deep sigh, he closed his eyes and swung his leg over top of the cold metal. With a struggle he pulled himself on to the surgical table, the hairs on the back of his neck instantly standing on end due to how cold it was. The Guys in White immediately went to work in strapping him down and removing the collar.

He didn't open his eyes as they were restraining him, nor when they pushed the table over towards the corner that he had earlier noted looked like a make-shift surgical area. It was only when he felt them tugging at his jumpsuit, sound of scissors near, did he open his eyes. They were cutting away at the thin material to expose his snow white chest. He began to hyperventilate, the full reality of the situation becoming overwhelmingly clear. This was his worst nightmare come to life. He let out a cry and began struggling, but it was useless. He was strapped down with the same anti-ghost material he had been earlier.

One of the Guys in White suddenly stepped forward with something. In his hands, protected by thick black gloves, he held a long metal rod that had a larger metal flat piece at the end. Danny struggled even harder as he got closer, the white suited man gesturing with his head for the others to back away. Then, without the slightest bit of hesitancy or remorse, he pressed the larger metal end to Danny's chest.

Searing pain instantly shot through him. He screamed as the man pressed the hot metal down ever harder. It was only when the man had removed the metal and Danny look down did he realize what they had just done. They had branded him, with what though was still a mysterious because it too swollen and red to make anything out.

With this the Guys in White left, leaving him completely alone to do nothing other to stare up at the bright light overhead and to dwell on his pain. He was starting to wonder whether or not they had forgotten him, but he knew that they took too much pleasure in his pain to ever forget he was there.

After what felt like hours—though it could have well just been a mere matter of minutes—Danny looked down at his aching chest. The swelling had gone down and now the burn was covered in a sickening shiningness. He was able to see the words they had branded him with now, but now he wished he hadn't looked. The words filled his mouth with bile and he felt as though he was on the verge of vomiting.

It read: Property of the Guys in White.

**Thanks for reading! Please do review!**


	10. Experiment

Danny found that he preferred to stare at the masks of the men and women whenever they did something to him. Whether it was taking ectoplasm, testing this, poking that, getting a sample of this, or whenever they were just near him in general, he found that staring at the mask gave he something to focus on besides what they were doing to him.

That was the worst part, watching them coming towards him with all sorts of ungodly instruments. When he was younger, when most children were terrified of vaccines, he had been able to handle them quite well, as long as he was able to look away whenever the doctors were coming towards him with the needle. The thought of oncoming pain made the actual pain much worse.

It had been two days since he first woke up in the Guys in White's torture chamber. The first day, after branding him on the chest, the Guys in White as well as their scientists had left him completely alone, leaving him to dwell on his pain and nightmarish surroundings. The second day had been focused on the Guys in White's scientists examining him. They had taken endless amounts of ectoplasm, weighed him, took his temperature, measured him, and took down any other information they could. Just when Danny thought that there wasn't anything more to learn about him physically they would come up with something else to test, measure, or take a sample of.

He found the scientists to be completely unsatisfying to talk to. Whether he was trying to give them sass, annoy them, or just asking what they were doing, they never responded to anything he said. Danny would have thought they were deaf had they not conversed with each other occasionally, usually in a language he didn't understand or recognize.

He wasn't sure what today's focus was. The first day had been focused on getting factual information from him personally, the second had been focused on the facts of his physical body, but today it just seemed they were going over and double checking anything they had missed from the day before.

At the moment all the scientists were absorbed in their own work, leaving him alone on the table. He enjoyed the break from being poked, prodded, beat, and shocked, but this break also worried him. Were they ignoring him because they were planning something even worse? What all exactly did they have in store for him? What would they do once they had decided they were finished with him?

"So," Danny said loudly, talking even though he knew it was pointless, "I realize you guys aren't good for conversation, but why don't you put on some music or something?"

No response.

Danny went to speak again but was instantly stopped by a pain in his stomach. A nearly unbearable pain. How long had it been since he last ate? He certainly hadn't gotten any food since having been caught by the Guys in White. Whenever he said he was hungry or he needed food they thought he was being a smart-ass.

Another sharp pain.

"God!" he cried out, startling a couple of the scientists. "What does a guy have to do to get food around here?"

"You don't need food, Phantom," a familiar voice said from across the room, accompanied by the sound of footsteps. It was K. "You're a ghost."

"I really do need food though," he said, his voice sounding like more of a beg than he wanted it to be. "I'm not kidding this time!"

"You just _think_ you need food," K argued. "A need caused by some sort of memory you carried over from your past life."

"I _know_ I need food!" Danny fought back, but K dismissed him.

K, O, and several other white suited men came into view. They and the scientist formed a small, tight group, all speaking in low hushed tones. Danny strained his ears to hear them, but to no avail. The only words he could make out were 'collar' and 'rays'.

Collar? Where they going to put him back in the chair?

One of the Guys in White left the group only to return later with a bundle in his arms. It looked, from Danny's short glimpse of it, like the man had retrieved the collar along with several cables and possibly cuffs made from the same anti-ghost material he had been constantly restrained by.

"It's rude to whisper," Danny called out, not really expecting any sort of response.

It appeared the group had reached some sort of agreement because they suddenly disbanded. Several of the scientists returned to what they had been doing previously but the rest went to a different part of the room, one out of Danny's limited line of sight. The Guys in White, there were six of them, surrounded his table, collar and cables ready in hand.

Danny swallowed hard. "What's up, guys?" he asked. His voice cracked when he spoke. There could be no good reason for them surrounding him like that.

"Same deal as before, Phantom," K said as he took a step forward, jerking Danny's head aggressively back and forth as he attached the collar. Meanwhile, the rest of the men were busy putting on cuffs made of the same anti-ghost material around his wrists and ankles, attaching cables to each of them.

Danny wanted to give some sort of remark like asking if he had been a good dog so they were taking him on a walk, but he refrained. He knew if he was to speak that his voice would crack and reveal how frightened he was. So instead he just focused on remaining calm—or at least appearing to remain calm.

With a jerk they pulled him off the table. He fell to his feet, his legs struggling to keep him up due to the pain and lack of movement for the past couple of days. They dragged him across the room, Danny deciding there was no point in resisting or trying to talk his way out of it. He was hoping to avoid getting shocked for as long as possible. They led him to a bulky machine that had a large, black panel on the side. Danny couldn't help but to hesitate, quickly looking over the machine and trying to assess what it was supposed to do.

"It's just an x-ray machine," K explained, hints of exasperation in his voice.

Danny allowed them to pull him forward, though he was still hesitant.

One of the scientists worked the machine while another occasionally stepped forward to adjust where Danny's body was in regards to the panel. The Guys in White stayed a view steps away, cables held tight in their hands, all appearing a little nervous. Danny amused himself by thinking that their nervousness was caused by a fear they had in regards to the x-rays and their reproductive organs. This thought helped to keep himself calm.

It was over in a matter of minutes and then they brought him back over to the table, making him climb up on it himself and restraining him just as they had done the last time. It was only after they had finished restraining him and stepped away that Danny felt like he was going to be sick. If they were x-raying him there was no way the collar they were using would have had metal in it which would have been used to shock him. He should have noticed that! He began hissing curses to himself as he banged his head slightly against the table. Even though he had still be restrained with anti-ghost materials, he still could have tried to fly away. Of course, given his current physical condition, there was no way he would have been able to escape from the six large men that had been keeping hold of the cables, but at least he could have tried. At least then he might not have felt as much as a helpless puppet in their sick and twisted games.

Some sort of new discovery must had happened because suddenly all the scientists were chattering nonstop. Danny had never heard them talk so much before. This made him nervous.

K stepped forward, laughing darkly to himself. "Boy," he said as he got closer to Danny, "I'd hate to be you."

In any normal situation Danny would have responded by saying the K was just jealous of his looks, but in this situation those words K had just spoken made him nervous, terrified more like it. He swallowed hard before asking, "Why?"

He gestured back towards the group of scientists who were now talking quietly in a small circle. "They've just decided that you have unusually dense bones."

"So?" Danny asked, wishing that K would just get to the point.

"So now they want to take some bone marrow from you. I don't know how that'll affect you, being a ghost, but I know that when my cousin donated bone marrow a couple years ago he said it was the most excoriating thing in his life. Then again, he had some anesthesia in him. You won't." K laughed darkly then patted Danny on the leg. "Good luck," he said with sadistic amusement as he left.

Cold terror made Danny's body shiver. He decided not to look back at the scientists. Instead, he just looked up and focused once again on the light. Perhaps if he pretended he wasn't here then maybe it would help. "This isn't real," he whispered to himself as he closed his eyes. "I'm not here. I'm not here. I'm not here."


	11. Danny is a Danny

Present:

"Danny?" his mother gasped as she spun around, wet tears still clinging to her face. She stared at him, mystified. It was as if she was staring at two separate pieces of a puzzle yet couldn't imagine that they would actually fit together.

Danny took back his hand slowly and then just stood there. Should he embrace her as he wanted to? Should he let her process it first? Would she even want him again? Would she accept him? Or would she throw him back to the Guys in White when they came? Her piercing eyes told him nothing as to how to proceed. What the hell was going through her mind?

"There—there was an accident," he fumbled around, quickly searching for all the right words. "Back when you were first setting up the Portal." She was still motionless, eyes still revealing nothing, so he forced continue. "I stepped inside it and then there was this great big flash. Next thing I know I'm waking up with ghost powers."

When his mother continued to remain speechless Danny looked up to his father, who still stood there with his mouth dropped and eyes wide, clearly in shock. "Please," Danny begged. "Say something. Anything." He felt his heart breaking as he made them his next offer. "If you never want to see me again I'll understand….I'll just—"

Danny was unable to finish his sentence. Suddenly his mother rushed towards him, wrapping her arms around him in a smothering embrace. His father followed not but a moment after. Danny yelped from the pain but didn't protest. This was a pain he could tolerate and even enjoy.

"Danny?" his mother began as she pulled back, his father following her lead. Her voice sounded hurt. "Why didn't you tell us?"

He looked up at his mother and then quickly to his father, who was asking the same question his mother had just except with his eyes. Danny looked down, suddenly ashamed of himself that he hadn't trusted them. If he had, he might not have ended up in the situation that he did. "I…I don't know," he stammered. "It's just that you guys are ghost hunters and I'm a ghost. I guess…I guess I was just afraid you'd want to tear me apart molecule by molecule…."

A choked sob escaped his mother's throat as she rushed towards him and surrounded him in another embrace. This time his father hung back, a pained expression on his face, probably from hearing his own repeated words used in such a way.

"Danny," his mother said as she nearly strangled him in her hug, "we'd never, _ever_ hurt you. I'm so sorry for making you think that we ever would. Honey, we love you."

"I love you too," his voice cracked. "I'm sorry." He hated himself for having doubted his parents. They had done nothing in his life than ever give him love. How could he have doubted them? "It's my fault. I'm the one who didn't tell you."

His mother suddenly froze and pushed herself back. She kept her hands tight on his shoulders as she quickly looked him over. Her eyes were wide and their previous anger and determination had returned. Her head quickly turned to look at the computer screen that was still running the analysis and then darted back to him. "What did they do to you?" she hissed low. "Jack," she ordered before Danny could even think of responding, never taking her eyes off of her son, "help me get him back on the table. He can't be standing."

"Nah," Danny said, quickly changing back into his ghost form. "I got this," he said as he floated up and sat on the edge of the cold metal table. His body ached and he was in so much pain, but he didn't care at this moment.

Maddie stared at him, complete astonishment sweeping over her face before quickly being replaced with a look of fierce determination. Danny had always enjoyed watching nature shows in the past, whenever there was time between ghost hunting and school. The look his mother had on her face now reminded him of a documentary he had seen about mother bears.

"They're going to pay," she hissed through her teeth as she whirled around and began working away viciously at a computer.

Danny looked up to see his father slowly stepping towards him. His eyes were still wide with the echoes of shock, but his mouth was now closed and he seemed more in control of himself. "Lay down, son," he coasted quickly as he reached up and gently put a hand on Danny's shoulder.

He listened and did as his father instructed. He closed his eyes, trying to absorb and assess every feeling he was having at the moment. His parents had accepted him! Not just accepted him, embraced him. They wanted him, both Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom. A hot tear escaped out of the corner of his eye, which he quickly whipped away. He was just so happy and relieved that he couldn't contain himself.

"Danny, are you alright?" he heard his father ask in a quiet voice.

Danny, still too happy to pay notice to all the physical pain he was in, smiled then answered, "I'm fine now."

His mother then said something that made him freeze, that made all his pain and torment suddenly return to him. The words she spoke made him feel as though he would vomit or pass out. If he had been able to jolt up he would have, but his pain had returned and his energy had been maxed. Instead, all he could do was tense up and clench his fists.

"Jack," she called back from the computer screen, "someone's trying to break in."

Guys in White, Danny moaned inside his head.


	12. Freak

Reflection.

Pain. There was so much pain. So many things ached and hurt him at the moment that it was impossible to distinguish one pain from another. The aroma of bread and egg salad only intensified the pain to an unbearable level in his stomach. His mouth watered and his eyes blurred, his mind currently fixated on the eggsalad sandwich K was eating noisily beside him.

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you, Phantom," K said with a smile as he pinched off another corner of the bread and tossed it into his mouth. "You're dead. You don't need to eat."

Danny drew in a breath to respond but regretted it instantly. With every breath he took came a grimace, clenching of fists, and a sharp, intense pain. After they took the bone marrow from him—which had been even worse than K had led on—the scientists had become curious about his need to breathe. They said as a ghost he had no need to, but where fascinated when O covered his mouth and nose, restricting his access to air, that he was in such distress. So they then indulged their curiosities by forcing a small camera attached to a tube down his throat and into his lungs. Danny had tried to fight against them, of course, but with him being weakened and O holding his mouth open, there was little he could do besides close his eyes and pray for it to be over. This procedure had left Danny's throat feeling mauled. He could barely take a breath or speak without feeling the intense, throbbing pain.

Danny swallowed hard, hoping the access salvia would ease his pain, then quickly drew in a breath. "I need food," he said, voice barely above a whisper. "I'm going to die."

His own words, and the harsh reality of them, hit him like a punch in the gut. With every passing second, with every test, with every sample, with every procedure, Danny's outlook for getting out of there alive and in one piece became more and more unlikely. If he didn't starve to death first they were no doubt going to keep digging into him, testing him. One time—and one time it would be all that it would take—they would go too far, taking something or testing something, and then he would be dead. And not just half dead, as he was now, but fully dead. The thought consumed him.

He thought of Jazz. Was she searching for him now? Would she continue to search for him after he was dead? Knowing her, she would never stop searching until she had found out what had happened to him. But what about after? How would she handle his death? This worried him. She had such a bright and brilliant future ahead of her. He hated to think that grief caused by him could delay or even dim this future.

He thought of Tucker and Sam. Would they continue to be friends? Or would his passing tear them apart? He liked to think that he wasn't the only glue that kept them together, but they were so different from each other. He hoped that they wouldn't blame themselves, but he knew that they would. Rare it was to have friends so caring and faithful as them. He hoped that they would be able to move on with their lives after he was gone.

And then he thought of his parents. They would be crushed, and he knew it. He had once heard his father say, after the death of a distant young cousin, that children should not die before their parents. He wondered how they would react when they found out the truth about him. Would they accept it? Would they refuse to believe it, rather keeping hold to the memory of their deceased son as a human? Would Jazz even tell them? Or would she try to hide it? He hoped that she would but he wasn't sure how likely of a chance that would be.

K's dark laughter brought him back to the present. He took another large bite into his sandwich and then waved it in front of Danny's face. "I'll tell you what," he began in a mocking voice, "you answer some questions for me and I'll let you have a bite of this."

Danny nodded vigorously. His mouth began to water even more and his mind danced at the thought of the moist, fluffy bread being in his mouth and going down his throat. A slight thought went towards if eating would hurt—considering how much pain he was in—but this mattered little to him. All he could think about was that food.

"You're pretty weird for a ghost, you know that?" K began.

"Yes!" Danny exclaimed quickly, ignoring the pain in his throat and eyeing the sandwich with intense desire.

"That wasn't one of the questions," K said, exasperated as he drew back the sandwich slightly. "Do you know why you're so weird? Why you have to breathe and your bones are so dense?"

If he had been in better physical condition, Danny would have responded by saying 'Well, I have put on a little weight recently', but he lacked the energy or will so speak so much. Of course, he knew why he was such an oddity. It was because he wasn't really a ghost—or a full ghost, rather. But he couldn't let K on that he knew. This could not only lead to more painful experiments but the revelation as to who his family was. He couldn't let them get hurt because of him. "No," he answered quickly.

"You sure?" K asked with a raised eyebrow. "You seem like a smart kid. I would think you would have at least been somewhat curious during your time as a ghost to figure out why you were so different than the others."

Just then a new sound entered the room that distracted Danny from K's speech. A couple of the nameless Guys in White had pushed in a cart full of file boxes. His mind raced as to what could possibly be inside. Were there really files in there? If so, what were they about? Were they about him? About Fenton Works? And even if they weren't files, what were they? More instruments for them to torture him with? Or something even more grave that his mind couldn't even possibly think of?

"Hey," K said, demanding Danny's attention. "Eyes on me. So you have no idea why you're different?"

Danny pulled his eyes away from the boxes to look back at K's face. It was such an ugly face he decided. Perhaps the sunglasses had been his idea as a way to hide such an ugly face.

"Are you listening to me?" K demanded.

Danny nodded.

"So why are you so different?" he asked again.

"Because the Portal," Danny sighed, his mind now focused only on the food before him.

"What portal?"

"The one," Danny muttered before drawing in another breath to complete his sentence, "that changed me. The big light."

"Alright," K grunted, clearly frustrated, as he pushed himself up. "I'm through with this. Here." He pushed the remainder of his sandwich into Danny's mouth, which he then began devouring instantly. "If you can't give me answers then we'll just have to figure them out for ourselves. The hard way."

Danny didn't care about whatever K was saying. Or the boxes. Or the scientists. Or anything else going on. At the moment all that he cared about was the sweet, delicious food that was in his mouth. For a moment, everything else in the world was nonexistent. He and this beautiful sandwich was all that there was in the world. But as soon as he swallowed the last bit he realized he had eaten it too quickly. Now his mouth watered and his stomach ached worse than before.

How much longer could he take of this?

**Thank you so much for reading and all of the reviews! I have no words that can measure my thankfulness and gratitude. Again, just thank you so much.**


	13. A tapping at my door

Present:

"It's gone now," Maddie said, slightly perplexed at how quickly the threat had come and gone. "Jack," she called back without looking up from the computer screen, "check the perimeter, will you? I'm going to run a diagnostic to make sure everything's running properly."

"Alright," Jack responded quickly. Before heading up the stairs he took one last look at Danny. His eyes were filled with so many questions, ones he was probably waiting for a better time to ask. There was also pain, a pain that Danny knew well that he had caused. Not having trusted them to tell them his secret for so long, using his father's own phrase 'tear apart molecule by molecule' to describe his reasons for fear, Danny could only imagine how much pain actually hid behind those eyes. With a quick ducking of the head he trotted up the stairs and disappeared out of sight, leaving Danny and his mother alone.

Maddie clicked away at the computer for a couple more minutes, silence ruling the air, until she suddenly stopped to face Danny, who was still lying on the edge of the table. Her face looked hard as stone—but too hard, as if she was fighting as hard as she possibly could from expressing any emotions. This stoic-ness made Danny feel uneasy.

"Are you mad?" he finally asked, his voice cracking as he did.

"Not at you," she said, her face suddenly softening. She stood up and slowly made her way towards him, as if careful not to move too fast and startle him. Once she was at the table's side she slowly ran her fingers through his snow white hair, the same way she had done for as long as she could remember. It used to annoy Danny, but now he wished she would never stop. "Let me see what they did to you," she said quietly. Her voice was gentle, but there was no way it had been a question or request. It was a quiet demand.

Danny swallowed hard and looked down. He had always considered his suit to be just another one of his powers—or rather, an addendum to them. No matter what, his suit was always there when he transformed into his ghost form. He had long ago learned that the suit could heal. It would eventually repair itself just as quickly as his ghostly body could. Whenever it was completely destroyed, it would always come back eventually, usually the next time he transformed if he waited a while to do so. His suit was just as much as a part of him as any other of his ghostly qualities. He often wondered if the other ghosts' suits and outfits did the same—with the exception of Skulker who Danny knew to build his own suits. He also wondered if they had been the clothes they had died in, just as his own suit had been the clothes he had been wearing when he half-died.

He looked down at his suit, still heavily tattered and mangled, just as he was. Shortly before arriving he had tried to cover himself with his suit as much as he could. He had tried to put his arms through the proper holes, cover himself with the mangled ends as best as he could. And he had done a rather good job at it, all things considered. Only parts of his pale white chest could be seen through the holes of the black fabric. Even though at the time his parents hadn't known about his identity, he still didn't want them to see how badly injured he was. He didn't want to worry them, even if they hadn't known he was their son at the time.

"Please," she insisted.

"Mom," he muttered as he continued to look down, unable to look her in the eyes. He didn't want her to see how bad it was or what they had done to him. He had already put her through enough hell for one day.

"I just want to see if there's anything I can do," she added quickly. "To see if—if there's anything I—I need to stitch up. I want to help you, Danny."

Danny sighed and bit his lip. He knew his mother well enough to know that she wouldn't stop insisting until he showed her. Perhaps it was for the sake of her own mind that she needed to see. Perhaps her head was filled with horrible images and this was her way of trying to dispel them—if only she knew. Eventually, after a deep breath, he caved.

With one hand he slowly began to part the torn, cut, and mangled fabric that had covered his chest. His mother quickly covered her mouth with her hands to stifle a gasp.

He hadn't really had much time to examine himself until now. He was definitely thinner, that much was clearly evident. Horribly, ugly bruises covered his body, creating an almost mosaic look with all the sickening colors. Gashes, incisions, injection markers, and all other sorts of injuries plagued his body, but none stood out more than the mark on the upper right side of his chest. Still burning red and glistening underneath the most faintest of lights, the brand acted as a sort of beckon, demanding one's attention instantly.

His mother leaned in closer, no doubt to get a look at the raised, burned letters on his chest. Danny knew once she had made them out because from the pit of her throat a low sort of growl escaped her lips. She turned beat red and her eyes flared with anger and disgust.

"Mom?" Danny asked after forcing himself to suck in a breath of air, only at the point did he realize he had been holding it.

Maddie took a deep breath and held it for several seconds, as if fighting to maintain composure. "You're going to be fine," she said quickly with a tone that was far from reassuring. She spun around quickly and began rummaging through a drawer, loudly and chaoticly, as if she wasn't really searching for anything at all, just trying to find something to distract herself with so as to not look at the mark again.

"Are _you_?" Danny asked as he struggled to prop himself up on one arm.

"Am I what?" Maddie demanded. Danny knew her anger wasn't directed at him, but it still made him extremely uneasy and on-edge.

"Are you going to be fine?" Danny asked, careful of his words and tone.

Maddie took a deep sigh and gave up for whatever she had been searching for. She turned around and gave him a smile. It wasn't a normal smile though. It gave no sign of happiness or reassurance. This was a sad smile. One that was used to express a kind of sadness people tried to hide for the sake of someone else, though they often failed to do so. "I will once we put those—those _monsters_ to rest once and for all."

The sound of his father coming down the stairs softened his mother's face slightly, though it didn't entirely relieve itself of its expressed pain and horror. "Anything?" she asked as soon as he stepped off the last step.

Jack shook his head. "Nope. Must have been a bird or something. They always mess the system up if they hit the house."

"The power of Windex strikes again!" Danny exclaimed with a wide smile. He had missed smiling. He had missed joking around too. What a joy it was to feel free enough to do such things again without the fear of being reprimanded for them.

But his smile quickly faded. Suddenly a bright flashing red light filled the room, accompanied by the sound of a momentous alarm. It wasn't the house alarm though, it was the Ghost Zone alarm. A sudden loud, thunderous noise came from behind the closed, thick metal doors of the Ghost Portal, as if someone were pounding it. An angry sort of sound came from the other side, though the words were impossible to distinguish. Every person in the basement looked at each other quickly and then back at the Ghost Portal, all suffering from a momentary shock from the unexpected alarm.

Maddie was the first to break from the trance. She rushed over to the computers and after a few clicks she announced, "Something's trying to get in."

No one had time to make any sort of guess as to who was trying to break in or what they wanted. For no sooner had the words escaped Maddie's lips than a familiar, yet incredibly angry, filled the room.

"FENTON YOU INSUFFERABLE OOF! LET ME IN!"


	14. Self Preservation

Present:

"What the hell?" was all the Danny could say in response to when he heard the voice on the other side, demanding in a righteous fury to be let in. Jack and Maddie stared on in utter disbelief, probably never having thought before that a ghost would desire so much be to let in, let alone know their names. After another demand to be let in Danny finally said as he pushed himself into sitting position, "Mom, open the doors."

His mother looked back at him quickly, a dozen questions written between her wide eyes and single arched eyebrow, but she then turned back around to press the button that would open the doors.

He didn't give care that the two of the world's most renowned ghost hunters were in the room. Nor did he give care to the fact that those two people happened to have been his college friends, and one being proclaimably the love of his life. He didn't give a notice to all the sirens and lights flashing. He also didn't seem to give much care as to Danny's physical condition. As soon as the doors opened he stormed in, his white cape waving in the air behind him, his red aura glowing unusually bright, perhaps due to his apparent angry and urgency. Within the matter of a couple seconds Vlad was just a hair's space away from Danny, eyes fierce and finger placed on his chest. "Would you like to explain what's going on?"

"You'll have to be more specific, Fruit Loop," Danny said, not wanting to just hand over all the information he knew Vlad was seeking. He considered it a personal duty to get under the skin of the creepy man that always fantasized about his mother.

Vlad took a step back, eyes now even more red with animalistic fury. "You know very well what I'm talking about, Daniel," he hissed through clenched teeth.

Danny couldn't help but to be perplexed. How could Vlad have found out so quickly? Who had even told Vlad anyway? There was no doubt in his mind as to what Vlad was referring to, given the hell he just went through, but the question was how had he found out and why was he even here? "How'd you find out?" he decided on asking.

"Really?" Vlad scoffed indignantly. "You tell the Box Ghost anything and half the Ghost Zone will know in less than an hour. He and his obnoxious habit of announcing every single little thing to the whole world! So, Daniel, is there any truth to the things I've just heard?"

Before Danny even had a chance to respond his father stepped in. With a warning hand raised and determination set on his face he began, "Look here, Wisconsin Ghost. I don't know who you are—" Danny suspected that the question was going to be 'I don't know who you are walking in here yelling at my son' or something like that, but he never got the chance to finish it.

_"HA!"_ yelled loudly. He then let out a short, mocking laugh as he said, "And really, Jack? Ghost shields? You do realize the enemy here is humans, from what I understand, don't you? Your pesky shields will do nothing than just to show how much of an idiot you really are."

"Shut up, Plasimus!" Danny yelled, his mother yelling something similar, though it was swept away by Danny's.

Looking a bit sheepish, Jack cleared his throat and asked, "What do you want?"

"I want to know what's going on!" Vlad screamed as he turned back to Danny. "Is all that I've heard true?"

"It depends what your therapist told you," Danny answered, the corner of his mouth raised on its own. Seeing the fury building in his nemesis he gave a sigh then answered, "If you heard it from the Box Ghost, then yes, it's true—this time. I got captured by the Guys in White and they—" his eyes quickly darted over to his mother, who looked like a viper getting ready to strike at Vlad with how much anger was in her eyes, and became even more aware of his words, "and they did stuff."

"How could you have been so stupid?!" Vlad screamed.

Danny saw his mother getting up, her face fierce and determined, looking as if she was just about to tear into Vlad. He spoke quickly, attempting to silence her words before they were even spoke. Vlad was his fight, he didn't want his parents to get caught up in even more of his mess. How much more was he going to put them through? "What do you even care?"

Vlad let out a swift, frustrated sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose between closed eyes. "Because, Daniel," he said slowly, enunciating each word as if to mock Danny's intelligence, "while I do hope for you to be my protégé one day, my main concern is that any information they found out about you can be easily applied to me." He then looked up at him, some of his anger having vanished, though certainly not all of it. A half smile flickered across his face as he added, "It's self-preservation, really. Something you obviously don't know enough about."

A new anger crept up inside of Danny, one that he did not even want to admit to having. He was angered at Vlad's lack of care. Of course, he would have expected no less from him, but the his degree of selfishness was what angered him the most. Not even asking how he was? Or saying anything about how he escaped?

In a moment, a moment so fast that there had been no thought towards it, only the desire for revenge to his anger, Danny looked up at Vlad, staring at him right in the eyes, then transformed into his human form.

"Daniel, what are you doing?!" Vlad exclaimed as spun around, head darting back and forth at Jack and Maddie as he spread out his arms, as if attempting to shield Danny from their view. After several long moments of staring at their confused, but not surprised faces, Vlad slowly turned around towards Danny, eyebrows raised and face full of an amazed perplextion. When Vlad saw Danny's smile he nodded and muttered, "Oh. I see."

Danny continued to smile, his anger vanishing as quickly as he had transformed. He had just told Vlad that his parents—namely, his mother—had accepted him and loved him even despite of his ghost powers. That he had been daring enough to tell them, something Vlad had never been able to do.

Vlad cleared his throat and his eyes darted back to the Ghost Portal. He looked so perplexed and confused, Danny noted how odd it was to see him so thrown off his guard, being weakened like that. "Well," he said turning, "now that I have confirmation, I'm off to go and clean _your_ mess, Daniel."

"What?" Danny asked, brow frowned with confusion. "Why?"

Vlad scoffed, walking forward without even looking back as he spoke, his voice was weaker and had less confidence as it did a couple of minutes ago, "Self-preservation, Daniel. If they've learned anything about you they've learned it about me as well. And I cannot allow that." With that, he entered back into the Ghost Portal, still glowing bright and green.

His mother quickly shut the doors and looked back up at Danny. "That was the Wisconsin Ghost, right?"

"Yeah," Danny nodded, still staring at the now closed doors, "but that's not really his name."

"Who is he then?" his mother pressed further.

Danny knew he could easily tell them who the Wisconsin Ghost really was. If they had accepted him as half ghost he could picture them accepting Vlad as well. But it was not his decision to make, and he knew that. If Vlad wanted them to know then he would tell them himself, though Danny doubted that would ever happen. After taking a deep sigh he answered, "Plasimus."

**Sorry I haven't posted the last couple of days. I had school work I needed to catch up on. Summer college courses can be quite demanding at times. But I'm back. Though please forgive me if I have to skip posting a new chapter in these up coming days. The summer semester is nearing its end so things are getting a bit intense. Again, I apologize for my lateness. **

**Anyways, thanks for reading! Please review.**


	15. Last Meal

Reflection.

Hours had passed since K had given Danny the remnants of his sandwich. Hunger consumed him, far worse than ever before. It felt as though the emptiness of his stomach was causing him to decay from the inside out. It was unbearable. All other pain he was in from their testing, experimenting, and beating was secondary to the pain radiating from his stomach. And his thirst! It felt as though his mouth was a dry, cracked desert, every breath just making his throat and mouth more dry. He couldn't take much more of it.

A new commotion filled the air. He turned his head to see a small man dressed in a white suit, face equipped with unnecessary sunglasses, pushing a small metal cart into the room. It had something on it, something that looked like a metal dome, though Danny had no clue as to what it could be. Probably just something else to torture him with. The new sight only held his attention for a moment before looking back up at the bright surgical light overhead.

He could hear the scientists talking, more excited than he had ever heard them before, but he didn't even try to listen. They didn't speak English and never responded to anything he said or did. They were just no doubt talking about some other experiment they could do to him.

He closed his eyes, for what felt like just for a moment, but was jolted awake with someone suddenly yanking on his head. "Phantom!" a familiar voice roared, barking him awake.

Instant panic rushed through him. Had he fallen asleep? He must have. But for how long? What had they done to him while he was asleep? His eyes flashed open, instantly greeted with the ever-constant blinding light. After blinking several times he quickly looked over his body, half expecting something to be gone, but breathed a sigh of relief when it appeared as though nothing had been done to him, or at least nothing apparent.

"Cool it!" K demanded as he took a firm hold on Danny's hair.

Danny fought against his better nature and forced himself to relax—or at least stop jerking around trying to see if they had done anything to him while he had been passed out—if he had even been passed out for that matter. He looked up to see that K was trying to put the collar on him. He along with six other Guys in White had surrounded his table. As soon as Danny stopped moving K took a firmer hold on his head, jerking it about as he put the collar on. Danny couldn't help but to note the cold feeling of metal against his skin; this was the collar that they could shock him with.

What could they possibly do to him now? Was there anything left for them to sample or poke?

He didn't have to be told to move, or not to fight, or even not to sass. As soon as the restraints on his ankles and wrists were released he forced himself up—letting out a pained grunt as his body refused to move—and slid off the table. Following them like a dog on a leash with wordless obedience. He was far too weak and in far too much pain to even consider resisting whatever it was that they were going to do to him.

They led him across the room and back to the area where he had originally woken up to what felt like ages ago. The corner of the room that had the table, chairs—including the one bolted to the floor, filing cabinets, and vacuum sized machine that was capable of sending countless amounts of electric volts through his body. They pushed him down into the bolted chair and began working away at restraining him. However, this time they had left his arms free, only restraining his ankles to the legs of the chair.

Danny looked around at the Guys in White, confused. Had they forgotten about his wrists?

K sat down in the chair across from Danny, the metal dome he had seen earlier held in his hands. K sat it in front of Danny and then took hold of the top of the dome, lifting it to reveal a plate full of sizzling fries and a juicy burger. Danny looked up, his mouth suddenly watering to an extreme level upon the sight of it.

"Go ahead," K offered, leaning back to the cart and obtaining a can of soda, setting it next to the plate of food. "You said you were hungry, didn't you?"

Danny didn't even ask why. As if powered by an animalistic frenzy, he instantly dove in and began devouring the food. All learned forms of social etiquette and manners were thrown at the window. He shoved the hot, juicy food into his mouth by the handfuls. Danny tried to open the soda, but he was too weak. K took pity on him and opened it for him, which he gulped down in an instant. "Why?" he asked as he shoved in another mouthful of food.

K cleared his throat and then took a deep breath. He seemed unusually reserved. "Because I think everyone deserves a last meal."

Danny stopped eating. He knew he wasn't getting out of this hell alive. He had already accepted that. But there was something in K's voice, something dark and deliberate, that made Danny uneasy.

His sudden stop in eating seemed to act as enough of a question for an explanation for K to continue. "They've decided that the only way to understand you is to dissect you."

"What?!" _Dissect_. They were going to dissect him! Just like one of the frogs Sam had worked so hard to save. A nauseating combination a terror, sadness, and anger rushed through him as the thought of his worst nightmare coming to reality. He already knew he was going to die in this hell. They could kill him in any way, but not through dissection!

"Sorry, kid," K said as he looked away, his voice seemed sincere. Guarded, but still insecure. "I got them to agree to knock you out first. They wanted to start it while you were still awake."

Danny fought to keep his food down. His mind racing, out of control. "When?" he breathed, not even having been fully aware that he had wanted to ask it.

"Tomorrow morning," K answered without looking up. He took a deep breath then looked back up, motioning with his hand to the other Guys in White. "There is something you can do to stop this though."

As the other Guys in White approached, attempting to restrain his wrists, Danny tried to fight them off, yelling obscenities at them as he did. But it was pointless. He was far too weak to make any sort of difference. They took control of his easily, restraining his wrists as if it had taken no effort at all.

"Hey!" K called out, demanding Danny's attention. "We can stop this! But all you got to do is tell me why you are so different from other ghosts. If you do that then they won't even have a need to kill you, maybe."

"I don't know!" Danny lied as he eyed O picking up the prod of the electrifying machine, switching on a button at the top, the high pitched sound of the machine charging stinging his ears. Of course he knew, but even in the face of death he wasn't going to risk hurting his family.

"Don't lie to me, Phantom," K yelled. "I know you know why."

"I'm not lying!" he yelled back.

Suddenly a blinding pain rushed through his body. His back arched, his eyes sealed themselves shut, and out of his lips came forth a terrible scream as the electricity surged through his body. The shock lasted for so long, longer than they had ever dared to shock him before. As soon as it was over his body convulsed, twitching and jerking at the remnants of electricity still in his body. He fought to catch his breath, gasping for air as his lungs spazzed. "I—don't—know!" he cried out in between gasps.

"Yes, you do!" K fought back, voice fierce with fury. "And we're going to keep at this until you tell me the truth!" He sat back down and looked to O. "Turn it to level eighteen and keep it there. And keep the charge on him as much you want. He'll be dead in the morning anyways."

Danny was leaned forward, not having enough will to sit back in the chair to perhaps a more comfortable position. He wheezed as he fought to maintain breathing. He was in pain. So much pain that he was surprised he was still alive. He would have thought his body would have given out by now, though being half-dead might have had something to do with the fact that he was still alive, ironic as it was. His body could withstand more.

How much time did he have left? Five hours? Five minutes? After the Guys in White had given up shocking him, deciding that he would never tell them why he was so different from other ghosts, they, along with the scientists, had left him completely alone in the room. Leaving him with nothing but his thoughts on his swiftly approaching fate.

He had always wondered what would happen when he died. Would just the half of him of the form that he was in die? For instance, if he died while in human form, would just the human half die and his ghost half continue on? Or would both halves die? And when he did die, would he be capable of becoming a ghost? And if he did become a ghost would he still be Danny Phantom, or just some watered down version of his self? So many questions.

"Guess I'll find out," he muttered to himself darkly.

He heard a sound on the other side of the room. He didn't dare look up. He didn't want to see the sight of the Guys in White approaching him, chaining him up and dragging him to the table so the scientists could cut him to pieces. But after that one small sound, there were no other sounds that followed it. If it had been the Guys in White he would have heard their footsteps and maybe heard them talking. But there was none of that. Only silence again. He still didn't bother to look up.

Another sound. This time it sounded as if one of the boxes he had seen earlier had fallen over. He was just about to ignore it when another sound filled the room at an incredible level. This noise, one that he had previously heard it had always filled him with annoyance, now filled him with adrenaline, confusion, and excitement.

"I AM THE BOX GHOST!"


	16. Strange Heat

Present.

Try as he might, Danny couldn't help but to feel the stare of his mother's eyes on him. They held so many questions in them. So many questions that she wanted to ask yet refrained from doing so, either because she didn't know how to ask them or felt it best to wait for a better time. Danny wasn't sure if he wanted her to ask them or not. He didn't necessarily want to talk about his ghost powers at the moment, and he did certainly did not want to talk about what the Guys in White had done to him, but any conversation would have been better than the pressing silence that hung in the air.

He tried to avoid her gaze further by staring down at the rumpled paper on the floor. After the computer had spit out the analysis of his ectoplasm, his mother had poured over the results, but threw them to the ground cursing, announcing that the machine had been unable to read his ectoplasm because it said it had been contaminated. "I drew it myself!" she had exclaimed. "There was no way it was contaminated!" Danny knew that the reason his ectoplasm had been 'contaminated' was probably because some of his human blood had mixed with his ghost ectoplasm, as it often did, especially when he was weak or injured. He would have told her of this fact, but he knew if she did she would want to try it again with another sample, but Danny didn't feel like being poked again just yet.

No longer able to handle the silence, Danny cleared his throat then asked, trying his best to sound aloof, hoping it would lessen the tension he was feeling, "So how's Jazz?"

"She's been really worried about you," his father answered. The sound of his voice had made Danny jump slightly. He had almost forgotten he was in the room he had been so uncharacteristically silent. "She's hardly slept or eaten since you went missing. She really loves you."

Danny felt a pang of guilt. He wished she was here instead of school. Then he could assure her that he was okay and tell her how much he had missed her. Her presence would probably ease things too. Though while his parents had accepted him, he was now starting to feel anxious and nervous, both to which he credited to his desire not to talk about what had happened with the Guys in White and his hopes that his parents wouldn't press any information about it.

"Does she know?" his mother asked. "Does she know about—about _this_?"

Danny knew exactly what she had meant by "this". She meant his ghost powers, though he guessed that she didn't know how to refer to them yet, probably trying to avoid offending him somehow. "Yeah," Danny answered, whincing as he adjusted himself. "It's impossible to keep anything from her."

He saw his mother nodding, a knowing smile twitching at the edge of her mouth. Seeing her smile made him smile.

Suddenly, without the slightest bit of warning, a new pain swept over him, even more intense than the pain he was already experiencing. He felt as though his whole body was on fire, as if an intense, blazing heat had been suddenly ignited within him and was fighting to get out. He tried to call out for help, for someone to put out this fire, but his lungs refused to cooperate. They were so tight and restricted that he had to fight to get enough air to breath, let alone speak. His ears rang at such a high and loud sound that it was impossible to hear anything else. When he tried to move he found it was impossible. He was completely frozen in place. Fear and panic rushed through him.

Was this it? Was this what it felt like to die? Was this the 'turning into goo' or disintegrating that the Guys in White had talked about?

As sudden and unexpected as the fit appeared so did it end. He opened his eyes to find his mother and father standing over him, appearing to be calling out his name searching for a response, though the ringing in his ears was still too loud to make out what they actually were saying. He gave himself several moments in order to try to collect himself, recovering from the pain-filled episode as well as try to sort out what had just happened. When he finally was able to hear again he could hear nothing but his parents frantically calling out his name, begging him what was wrong.

"I'm fine," he lied, a sudden rush of relief sweeping through him as he discovered he was once again able to move.

"Don't lie to me, Daniel Fenton," his mother rebuked. "I don't want you lying to me anymore. Got that? Now what's wrong?"

Another wave a guilt. Why had he even lied and shielded the truth from his parents in the first place? He honestly didn't know anymore. "I," he began weakly, still trying to sort out what had just happened himself, "I don't know."

"I'm taking another sample," his mother decided, stepping away to get another needle.

Danny swallowed hard at the thought. With his father still standing over him, fear and confusion written plainly across his face, Danny looked up and asked, "Can we go upstairs?" The truth was he hated being on the surgical table. It was too much like the one he had been strapped to for who knows how long.

"Sure thing," his father answered, appearing as though he was now trying his best to regain his composure. "Right after your mother's done."

Then it happened again. The same blaring pain, the same intense heat, only worse this time. He clenched his teeth and shut his eyes, trying to best to push through it without screaming—if he even could scream. Was this the end? All the while all he could think _'What's happening to me?!'_


	17. Unexpected Gratitude

Reflection.

"I AM THE BOX GHOST!"

Danny's head whipped up in an instant. Pure excitement rushed through his body like wildfire. He was so excited that at first he wasn't able to get his mouth to work, it too busy being dropped from the shock of the turn of events. Finally though, he was able to hoarsely scream out, "Box Ghost!"

The blue skinned, overall clad ghost froze with surprise, the rest of his dramatic monologue dancing at the edge of his lips. He turned his head and when his eyes met Danny they widened in shock and horror. He tried to speak, but appeared to be unable to make out any words.

"Box Ghost!" Danny cried out again, hoping to break him free of his shocked stupor. "Help me!"

The Box Ghost broke free of his trance. Faster than the flicker of a flame, the blue ghost rushed towards him, by his side in an instant. He looked over Danny, eyes darting from the restraints to all his injuries and then back to the restraints. "What—" he stammered.

Fearing how little time he might have left before his executioners came back, Danny exclaimed, "No time to explain! Just get me out of here!" As the Box Ghost's head darted back and forth, trying to find something to cut him free with, Danny gestured towards the medical area corner and said, "There should be a scalpel somewhere over there."

And that was all the energy he could spare on conversation. Pain and weakness ruling his body, he slumped over and waited for the Box Ghost to return. He heard drawers being opened and the Box Ghost muttering to himself as he searched, but Danny did not look up. He did not move or provide any sort of explanation after the Box Ghost returned working away, trying to cut away the restraints with the scalpel he found. It was only after the last restraint had been cut away that he forced himself to look up.

"Thank you," he said when he made eye contact with the still in shock blue ghost. He wanted to say more, to show just how thankful he really was, but he was just too weak to do so. Instead he just tried to pour the fullest extent of meaning into those two simple words. "We gotta get out of here."

When he first tried to stand the pain and weakness from both the electrocution and the lack of use overtook him. He fell back down into the chair with a grunt. When he readied himself to try again he felt a cold hand on his shoulder. "Hold on for one moment," the familiar, ever dramatic voice commanded.

Danny looked up to see that the Box Ghost was back over at the medical corner, searching through a cabinet and muttering to himself again. Danny dropped his head, trusting the Box Ghost enough to not have a feel of a need to watch him. After several moments the Box Ghost announced his return by setting something on the table, perhaps a bit too loudly than what was necessary. Danny looked up to see, with great surprise, the green and metallic cylinder standing before him. The Thermos. He had had it on his persons when the Guys in White had captured him. Ever since he woke up in this place he had never given the slightest of thoughts towards what had happened to it. He had had other things on his mind, such as pain, torture, and death. The Guys in White must have taken it off him and kept it, intending to study it after they were through with him.

"I, the Box Ghost," the Box Ghost began in his usual fashion, "would overshadow you to get you out of here, but Plasimus warned us all not to do that to you. Said it was dangerous or something."

Danny couldn't help but muse darkly to himself. He doubted that if his ghost form overshadowed the Box Ghost, resulting in them to fusing together, that that would result in him because his dark future self, Dan. That would only happen if he fused with Vlad. He suspected that if he fused with the Box Ghost he would just become some sort of crime fighting superhero seeking vengeance for misused and abused boxes.

"So," the Box Ghost continued, "if you go in that I can carry you out of here."

The Box Ghost was much smarter and more caring than for what Danny gave him credit for. With the exception of one little mishap regarding Pandora's Box, the Box Ghost never did anything with the intention of causing real harm. Danny never thought of him as any sort of threat or danger, just merely an annoyance. Now, however, after all those times of scooping him up in that same Thermos and throwing him back into the Ghost Zone, he was aiding Danny. His aid being something that he had never imagined would be in need of. His gratitude and thankfulness was beyond that which words could express, but now was not the time to even attempt to show them. Now, they had to focus on getting out of there before being discovered.

"Do you know how to use it?" Danny asked as he pushed himself up with a grimace.

The Box Ghost nodded. "You just hit this button here, don't you?"

Danny nodded. "Just point it at me and press that button, then just point it away from you and press it again to release me."

The Box Ghost gave an understanding nod then picked the Thermos up, looking it over with great fascination as he did. He looked so odd to see it in his hands. Just as the Box Ghost readied it and took aim Danny held up his hand to stop him.

"Wait," he said. Wanting to establish that the Box Ghost needed to take him to his house and not any other place that the Box Ghost thought fit, Danny said, "Before you take me to Fenton Works we need to go to the Nasty Burger. I'm starving."

"Sure thing," the Box Ghost assured him.

After giving him an approving nod, the Box Ghost held up the Thermos and took aim. Just a moment later a soft _click_ was heard and a bright light came rushing towards Danny, enveloping him and bringing him back into the source of the light. Closing his eyes, he gave no resistance to being sucked into the cold, small metal container. Despite how hungry he was and how much pain he was in, only one word kept repeating itself in his mind. _"Home."_


	18. Vlad

Present.

Just as Danny had never thought he would have his life indebted to the Box Ghost, Danny never expected that he would find such an over-joyous pleasure of being on a coach. After having been stuck on hard, cold metal slabs for so long, the plush, soft comfort of the cushioned coach felt like Heaven. Even the throw blanket that his father had draped over him, one that he had never found much like for in the past, now felt like a prize of a king. Oh, the pleasure of comfort!

Danny looked over at his father, who was staring at his covered body with a curiosity and sadness that lingered in the corners of his eyes. They were alone now, as they kept finding themselves now. After drawing another ectoplasm sample his father had carried him up to the living room to lie on the couch. His mother kept trying to be with him, but her need to know what was going on with him kept getting the better of her, driving her to leave them so she could go back down to the basement to see if the machine had results yet.

He had had another episode once his father had gotten him upstairs, but he hadn't had any other since, though he found himself to be in more pain because of them.

"Are you okay?" his father asked when he met his son's eyes. "Are you warm enough?"

Danny couldn't help but to muse to himself darkly. If they were in any other situation Danny probably would have said 'I've been warm enough for the both of us', but he knew that now was not to time to make jests. The worry in his father's eyes, the worry he had had in them when he had carried up the stairs, holding him as if he were afraid to break him, was one that Danny hated seeing. His father was the brave, unstoppable force in his life. Nothing could go wrong as long as Jack Fenton was around. Danny hated to see him so weakened. "I'm fine," he finally answered.

"Do you need anything?" his father pressed further. "Are you hungry?"

"I'm fine," Danny said again, trying to bring as much comfort to his voice as he could.

His mother was now in the room with him. She shook her head in a wordless answer to his father's unspoken question when they met eyes. The computer still had no results or answers for them.

Suddenly, a new and thunderous sound filled the room. A sound that made them all jump and heads flash in the direction of the door.

"FENTON! YOU INSUFFERABLE OAF! LET ME IN!"

"Plasimus," Danny muttered as his father stood up. Had he 'cleaned up the mess' already?

When his father got to the door he pecked through the small eye piece and let out a confused noise. "It's Vladdie," he said, confusion and surprise plainly written in his voice.

As soon as the door opened slightly, Vlad forced himself in, paying no attention to the perplexed Jack or even the questioning Danny. His focus was on Maddie. "I wanted you to be the first to know," he began as he drew near to his red-headed mother, eyes holding the same creepy longing that they always did when he was around her, "that you are now the only ghost hunters in town."

"What?" Maddie questioned, confusion abundant in her voice as well.

"It appears," he continued as he straightened himself to full height, "that the Guys in White have been conducting illegal experiments on ghosts. As a result they've been placed under arrest. I was going to gather their research for you but it appears that some extremely powerful ghost destroyed their lab and all information they had shortly before I got there."

An awkward silence followed. It appeared that Vlad was expecting some sort of praise for delivering such news, but Jack and Maddie were still in too much of a place of shock by his unexpected presence to give it.

"Plasimus," Jack said suddenly.

Vlad spun around, slight alarm being revealed through his usually guarded face. "Why, ah, yes, I suppose it could have been Plasimus."

"No," Jack said, eyes flowing up and down his college friend, "you're Plasimus."

"I don't know if you're too much of an idiot to notice this, Jack," Vlad said taking a step forward, anger now seeping from his every word as if to serve as a warning, "but I am standing in front of you, alive. As you can see, I am most certainly not a ghost."

"No," Jack said, voice now even more decided. "You're like Danny. 'If they found out information about you they have information about me'. There's no way it's a coincidence that Plasimus finds out that the Guys in White had him and then you have them arrested, their lab oh-so-conveniently burning down. You're Plasimus."

Vlad's eyes darted over to Danny. His expression was hard to read. Danny couldn't decide if it was one of anger for having been found out or one of relieve that after all these years his secret had finally been revealed. Either way, the look only lasted for a moment, as if that was how long it took him decide whether or not to continue his arguing about it. He turned back his head to Jack and let out a short, cocky laugh. After letting out a sigh and shrugging his shoulders in a carefree fashion, he transformed into Plasimus then looked back and forth between Jack and Maddie. "Took you long enough."

"How—?" his mother stammered, eyes darting back and forth between Vlad and Danny, as some sort of answer to all her questions was written between them.

"Him," Vlad said poisonously as his head flashed back over to Jack. "We both died our first deaths because of him and his stupid, malfunctioning machines."

Jack's eyes opened wide and his mouth slacked with the accusation. He appeared as to be searching desperately for words to say, but coming up short. How does one respond in such a situation?

"But it's no matter," Vlad continued. "If it hadn't been for you and that pesky accident that nearly took my life, I wouldn't have been able to rise to the place where I am today."

As interesting as the conversation was that was unfolding in front of him, and as grateful that he was for him having taken care of his tormentors, Danny couldn't help but to be annoyed by Vlad's presence. There were several people he desired to be surrounded with, and Vlad was not one of them, especially after seeing him attempting to warm up to his mother as he always did. "Hey, Fruit Loop," Danny began, reminding everyone in the room after such a tense exchange that he was still there, "why don't you make yourself useful and get Jazz, Sam, and Tucker from school then bring them back here?"

Vlad spun around, eyes flaring with rage for having been interrupted. They softened, however, when he saw how weakened Danny was. "Fine," he sighed defiantly, transforming himself back into Masters, "but only because you're hurt. Don't expect such charity again from me any time soon."

"Never do," Danny grinned.

After giving both Jack and Maddie one last long look, Vlad spun around and stormed out the door, shutting it loudly behind him as he did.

Be it triggered by the loudness of the door, the stress of Vlad's presence, or just the natural course of things, as soon as the door shut another episode of pain swept over Danny's body, worse than ever before. The heat was far more intense now, his head feeling as though it was on the verge of exploding, the blaring in his ears raising to a deafening level, and the pain beyond unbearable. This time though he was able to scream. A scream filled with such pain that it frightened even himself. _"I'm dying_," the thought passed through his mind as the pain continued on, the episode longer than all the others.


	19. Coming to the Present

Reflection.

Danny stared at the building in front of him. He had come to think it ugly and embarrassing in the past few years, with its large bulky metal pieces at the top, but now he couldn't think of a building more beautiful.

Home.

He sat down, leaning against the cold bricks of the building across the street from his own, attempting to hide behind the empty trashcans that waited outside his neighbor's building, just wanting to be put away. The Box Ghost had left him several minutes ago. He had offered to help him to the door, but Danny refused. He refused again when he offered to stay with him until he felt up to going to his door. He couldn't go up there, not just yet.

There was no doubt in his mind his parents were home. It was morning of a weekday, from what he had gathered by the lack of students in the streets. He knew that Jazz would be at school, whatever remained of it, as were Sam and Tucker. He knew that his father would be working away at a new ghost weapon. He also knew that his mother would be looking over said ghost weapon, double checking all his father's calculations. He knew that if he went inside at that very moment that his parents would be there. And yet, that was exactly the reason why he didn't want to go in. His parents would be there.

Letting out a pained sigh, he looked down at his tattered suit. It had been cut and ripped open, revealing his marred chest underneath. He couldn't let his parents see him like this. He reached up, every move careful to avoid injuring himself further, and began attempting to mend the pieces back together. He knew it wouldn't stick, but any way to hide just how bad it was he would seize. After he was done, dissatisfied but deciding there was nothing else he could do, he leaned back again and continued to stare at the building.

How was he even going to do this? Would they even help him? That he needed their help, he had no doubts. But why on earth would the world's two most renowned ghost hunters even consider helping a ghost they've been hunting for years? Would they throw him back to the Guys in White? Would they tear into him themselves?

"God!" he cried out in frustration.

Why? Why did he have to get captured by the Guys in White? Why had they tortured him to nearly the brink of death? Why had he kept his secret from his parents for so long? Why did he have to go to them now, after being beaten and marred, potentially exposing his identity to them? _Why, why, why!_?

Part of him wanted to linger around until Jazz got home. Then she could help him, not only getting in there but dealing with his parents as well. She could either help him hide his identity or help him in revealing himself to them. But as much as he desired to, he knew he couldn't hang on that long until then. Who knew what time it was and when she would be back? Who knew if he'd have enough strength to call out for her when she returned? And who even knew if he'd still be alive by the time she did come home?

He couldn't stay out there forever.

Gathering up all his strength, both physical and mental, he pushed himself up, not wanting to delay the inevitable any longer. The walk across the street was slow and painful, but thankfully, due to the time of day, there were no oncoming cars for him to avoid. By the time he got to the door he was exhausted.

A dozen potential conversations ran through his head as he reached up towards the doorbell. Ideas of things to say, explanations to open with, pleas for help to give them. But as soon as the door opened all these things instantly left his head. He stood there, hunched over and holding tight onto his side, staring up at his mother who stood in the doorway, surprise and shock written across her face. "Help me," was all that he could say before falling over.

"Jack!" his mother called out as she stooped down to look at Danny at eye-level. "What are you doing here, Phantom?" she demanded, her voice harsh yet perplexed at the same time.

"The Guys in White," Danny muttered as he slumped further into the ground. "They've been experimenting on me and torturing me. They were going to dissect and kill me, but I escaped. Please, help me!" The conversation zapped the last of his energy. He fell down over onto the cement steps, looking up at his mother with pleading eyes, using them to beg for help.

"What's up, Mads?" his father asked as he approached in a half-jog.

His mother stepped back to give him a better view. She answered his question before he even had a chance to ask. "The Guys in White did this to him," she said, anger now apparent in her voice. "Help me get him downstairs. He needs our help."

All sorts of alarms went off in Danny's mind as his father, now looking just as confused, anger, and determined as his mother, bent down and picked him up. He thought he should have fought against it, but he was too weakened. He remained quiet until they got downstairs to the lab. When he saw that his father was going to lay him down on a surgical table he began to try to wrestle away. "No!" he hissed through his teeth, terror seizing him as horrible, nightmarish memories flooded his mind.

"Relax, Phantom," Jack said, ignoring his protests as he laid him down on the cold metal.

His mother then stepped forward, fierce determination written all across her face. "You said the Guys in White did this to you?" she demanded.

Danny nodded wordlessly.

"Do they know you've escaped?" she continued.

Danny shrugged. "I don't know. But they probably do by now."

Maddie gave a firm nod then turned towards Jack. "I doubt they'll just let him walk on up out of there without a fight. You go put the house on lockdown. I'll stay down here and take some ectoplasm for analysis. He doesn't look right."

"You could say that again," Jack added darkly before trotting up the stairs.

His mother turned and began rummaging through a drawer. A moment of cold fear rushed through him as he saw her pull out a long needle. He fought to control himself, not wanting to show her that he was now afraid of just one needle.

He struggled to remain calm as he watched his mother push up the tattered sleeve of his jump suit. She brushed her hands against the bruises on his wrists were he had been restrained. As she wiped off the crook of his arm with a cold cotton ball he took a deep lungful of air and breathed, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," she muttered as she poked his arm, searching for a place to stick the needle. "I don't even know if you'll make it through the day."

"Doesn't matter," he muttered as he prepared himself for the needle. "I'm home now."

Maddie looked down at him, confusion plain in her face as she raised an eyebrow. She dismissed this quickly and then slowly pushed the needle into his starch white skin.

**This was the last reflection chapter. Only two more chapters remain.**


	20. One Last Glance

Present.

A silence hung in the air. Not one of awkwardness or one of quiet stillness, but one of helplessness. A silence that rang of an oncoming doom. Of a fate not wanting to be accepted.

The results had been finished.

"Mads?" his father had asked as he turned to see wife, her face pale and solemn as she approached them from having run down into the basement. Her silence had been disturbing. "Mads?" he had repeated, rising up from his seat to embrace her.

"It's his molecular structure," she had muttered, voice distant, eyes trying hard not to look down at her son. "It's breaking down, fast."

"What does that mean?" Danny had asked as he struggled to lift his head up to look at her.

His mother had then burst into tears. That was all the answer he had needed. It was an answer that she couldn't bring herself to say. He was dying and she didn't know how to stop it. His father had tried to offer ideas, even suggesting the hope that it might just his ghost half and not his human half (which was then deemed unlikely by Danny explaining that his injuries had transferred over to his human side, meaning it was likely whatever was going on with him one the core level of his ghost half had likely transferred as well). Now they all sat there in silence, his parents clinging to his arm, their minds still obviously racing on something they could do to help him. No words were dared to be spoken, for the gravity of thought being that they might be their last shared amongst each other.

"Vlad's probably been like Danny for a while, hasn't he?" his mother asked, finally breaking the silence.

Danny nodded.

"Then he might know what to do," she said hopefully. "Yeah, he'll know what to do. He was always good at figuring things out when we couldn't."

Danny went to take a breath to speak but found his lungs were starting to tighten again. Was another attack coming? Feeling panicked and rushed about this thought, he drew in quick breaths to speak in between gasps. "Sorry…I…didn't…tell…you…sooner."

"Honey, don't worry about it," she coasted as she rubbed his arm.

His father stood up suddenly. "I'm calling an ambulance," he announced decidedly before rushing off into the kitchen.

Danny tried to object, wanting to tell him that he doubted human hospitals could help a problem that was caused by a ghostly ailment. That human doctors would doubtfully know how to aid a ghost whose core was breaking down after having been fried. That if they discovered ectoplasm in his blood there would be many questions, some that might end up in him being exposed, which would then might result in him being treated as a lab rat just as he was before. But he had no energy to make any sort of protests, so instead just let out a pained grunt as he held out his hand towards him. "Mom—" he breathed out hoarsely after another round of gasping for air. His chest was becoming even tighter, his lungs fighting for enough room to receive the air that they long for.

"You're going to be fine, sweetie," his mother said as she ran her fingers through his hair. "Vlad's coming, he'll know what to do, and an ambulance is coming. You're going to be fine. It's—" There was nothing but sorrow in her face.

She might have spoken more words, but those were all that Danny was able to hear. The ringing had returned, this time so deafening it felt as though his ears were about to explode. He tried to call out for help, but his lungs refused to work, to even breathe in a breath of air. Panic seized him. He tried to reach out for help, but was met with the horrifying realization that he was once again unable to move, paralyzed.

Then the heat returned. To say as though he felt as though he had been caught on fire would be an understatement. The pain was far more intense than that. It was as if someone had thrown him into the very gates of hell while he was still alive. He couldn't stand it anymore! He prayed for death just so that his pain would end.

Still no air. How much time had passed since he had last felt such a precess thing fill his chest?

He saw his mother standing over him, either calling out his name or screaming for his father's help, but he still could not hear her. His vision was starting to blacken now. The end was swiftly approaching.

Feeling as though his mind was now starting to leave him, the lack of oxygen getting the best of him, he turned his darkening gaze over towards the door, just in time to see it open. He caught a glimpse of Jazz, Sam, and Tucker rushing in. Relieve filled him. They were okay. They were alive. They had come out of the fire unharmed. It was okay to die now.

Using the last of the strength, willing that if any air in his body remained for it to be used in that last moment, he turned his gaze back to his mother and mouthed the words, "Goodbye."

And then he was gone.

**One more chapter remains, an epilogue. I just wanted to thank you all now for making it through this read. And thank you all so incredibly much for those who reviewed. How much I appreciated your reviews! Keep them coming!**

**So anyways, one more chapter and then the story that I completely made up as I went along will end.**

**Thanks again!**


	21. Echoing Walls

The door swung open with just the slightest of touch, a soft scream of resistance coming from the hinges. The room, so familiar to her and once filled with such life, seemed so ominous now. It was as if it was a piece of the past, a crystallized memory, one that should not be disturbed.

_'Get out of my room, Jazz!'_ the words echoed off the walls as she took a step inside. His voice, still so real and yet so far away now, felt as though it was slipping away from her. Like a dream soon forgotten upon waking up. She wondered how long it would take before she would completely forget his voice.

"I shouldn't be in here," her whispered, so low it was more like a breath with words attached, as she took another step in.

Memories flooded at her from every corner, with every step she took. She didn't want to be in here. She didn't want to believe this reality was true. If she hadn't of seen it with her own eyes she would never have believed it. Even after seeing it, she still didn't believe it.

It had just been two days prior that the school secretary had come to her class, telling her to pack her bags and go to the main door, that there was a family emergency so she had to leave early. _'Danny_,' she had muttered as soon as the elderly woman had told her this. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw Tucker and Sam bother racing to the doors as she was. When they all saw Vlad waiting for them, it only added to the confusion and urgency.

"No time to explain. Come on." That was all he had said. He had refused to say anything further, even as they sped down empty streets of Amity Park to Fenton Works.

She had felt on the verge of vomiting the whole ride home, Tucker and Sam sitting in the back of the car with her in the same stressed silence. Danny, that was all she could think of. That was all she had ever been able to think of since he had gone missing. Was he okay? Where had he been? Why hadn't he called her for help? Did anything happen to him? Why was Vlad picking her up? Did their parents know? If so, how were they taking it? Had someone done something to him? Had he been kidnapped? What was his current state? Was he going to be alright?

The climax of such great and fearful emotions reached their peak when she got to the door. No sooner had she turned the handle when the sound hit her like a bomb. Her mother's screams. They weren't ordinary screams either. They were pleading screams. She was crying out, begging for Danny to hear her, to respond, to hold on, to stay with her. Horrible, horrible screams.

As soon as she opened the door she saw it. Her brother, her baby brother, lying there on the couch. Hollow, broken, and marred. Looking up at their mother, eyes wide. His mouth moved slightly, as if muttering something. Then up from his parted lips seeped out a strange gas. It was green, plagued with streaks of red, waving in the air, hovering over his body just for a moment before disappearing.

Everything that happened next, all that had happened ever since then, was a blur to her. She knew she had screamed for a while, as had everyone. She had been the one that had refused to let go of his body when the people from the mortuary had come to take it away. _"No!"_ she had screamed. _"You can't take him! You can't have him!"_ But they had. And now he was gone.

She had stolen a glimpse of him right as they were taking his corpse away. He looked so weird. So un-Danny. Aside from how broken and bruised he was, something else was off about him. It was as if, after death, his two forms had merged together, as if both forms, now dead, were one. He had a sort of dark greyish hair. His dull, dead, glassy eyes were now a combination of his luminescent green and sky blue eyes.

Cruel. So cruel. She had finally gotten her brother back only to watch him die.

She sat down at his desk, her heart cold, her mind withdrawn, focused only on the job at hand. His funeral was in two days. They were wanting to put up together a colleague about him, with various pictures and awards he had received, attempting to display all of his life on just one simple board. But there was no way they could do that. He lived too much for that.

Jazz was the only one who had been brave enough to come up here. Everyone else couldn't even get within five feet of his room.

With a deep sigh, fighting to keep her unattached, she pulled open the first drawer. There was nothing but junk. Rubber band ball, a CD that she had been missing for a year, a dart gun. Nothing but junk. The next drawer she found the same thing. And the next. With seeing what was in his drawers she hated to think what awaited underneath his bed. It was only in the last drawer that she was able to find anything that could possibly be interesting. A few crumpled up papers, an abandoned report card, a discarded book report. Then at the very bottom of the door, completely hidden so well that she had almost missed it. An envelope. Sealed. Heavy. With words scrawled across in black ink that made her gasp.

_In the event of my death._

She stifled back a sob as she jumped up and rushed to the edge of his bed. She knew she probably should bring it downstairs, let the whole family, Sam and Tucker included, take part in this together. But she couldn't wait. She had to read it now. What if—what if it had some answers for her?

With a quick motion she opened up the side and let the papers fall out. Her eyes instantly began to fill with tears, but she quickly wiped them away, knowing well that she wouldn't be able to make out a single word if she started crying now.

_ I feel really awkward writing this. I guess it's just the thought that these words will still be around even after I'm gone. And it's just weird thinking about my death. Especially since I'm so weird and I have no idea what will happen. I saw someone do this in a movie once. I figured I'd do it too, considering how I spend my time doing things that could easily get me killed._

_ I'm not really sure where to start…. They made it look so easy and deep on the movie. And I'm just sitting here writing this in my pajamas not feeling deep at all. Magic of Hollywood, I guess._

_ Oh well._

_ Anyways, I guess I should start out by explaining something, Mom and Dad, especially since it will probably have to do with my death. I'm Danny Phantom. I'm half ghost. I was down in the lab one day with Tucker and Sam. This was right before the Ghost Portal started working. I walked in there and I must have pressed a button or something because the next thing I know there was this bright flash of light and I'm waking up with ghost powers and this new ghost form and now I'm fighting ghosts. (Yes, Jazz, I know. Run-on sentence. And now a fragment. I'm dead. Shut up). Anyways, I wanted to tell you for a long time. I'm sorry I didn't. I guess I was just afraid you wouldn't accept me or want me as your son anymore. I loved you too much to risk losing you._

_ I tried to make the best of my powers by keeping Amity Park safe. I made some mistakes. Some people have gotten hurt because of me. But I like to think I made some sort of difference. I hope one day, if you can forgive me for lying to you for so long, you can be proud of me._

_ Jazz, you are the best big sister anyone could ever ask for. You can be overbearing and motherly at times, but I know you do it because you love me. And I love you too. Whatever happened, don't get hung up on my death. You have a bright future ahead of you and I don't want you to jeopardize it just because of me._

_ Tuck, you're my best friend. No matter what happened, don't blame yourself. I don't care what happened or what you think, it's not your fault. I've made decisions in my life that have made danger a very real thing for me. That was my choice and anything that happens because of it is my fault. Mine and mine alone. You're the best friend anyone could ever ask for. You've had my back more times than I can count. A guy has to be really lucky in life to have a friend like you. Thanks, man._

_ Sam, you mean a lot to me. More than you know. I'm sorry for any pain my death has caused. Please know that it's not your fault. You're a better friend than what I deserve. Thank you for that. I love you, Sam._

_ I'm really lucky to have such wonderful, awesome people in my life. You all make it worth living. Thank you all for being there for me throughout the years._

_ I'm not sure why or how I died. I like to think that I went down fighting. I also like to think that it wasn't painful and I didn't catch on fire. I also like to think that it won't be for many years from now that I die, but you just never know, especially with me fighting ghosts._

_ Anyways, I just wanted to make sure you all knew how much you all meant to me and how much I loved you all. Thanks for everything. See you on the flip side._

_ Danny Fenton/Phantom_

By the time she got to the end her hands were shaking so hard and so many tears were forming that she could hardly read. She let the papers fall down onto the floor as she leaned forward, resting her elbows against her knees as she buried her face in her hands, sobbing freely.

_"Why?_" she cried out amidst her sobs. "_Why, why, WHY!?"_

She wasn't sure how long she had been crying. Or why someone hadn't dared to come check on her yet. But finally, remembering her task, mind reeling on as to how she was ever going to be able to go through her deceased brother's room, she sat up. A cold breeze of air rushed around her, sending shivers up her spine. She looked up to see his window open and drapes flowing lightly in the gentle breeze. How long had that been open?

After letting out a long sigh, one that shacked from the echoes of her sob, she looked down at the fallen letter on the floor. He was so young. Younger than her. And yet, despite how she had told herself otherwise, he was so much wiser and mature than her.

"Oh, Danny," she said as she tried to fight back another sob, blurring eyes still down on the letter.

"What?"

Her heart leapt. Her blood ran cold. That voice. His voice. Surely it had just been another echo from the walls? Her mind playing a trick on her? Her brain letting her hear the voice that she would give anything to hear? It must have been, shouldn't it?

Not able to stand the questions rushing through her mind, she looked back up to the open window, suddenly now more cold than she had ever been in her entire life.

"Danny?"


End file.
